Possible Debris From Tohoku Earthquake Reaches American Shores

As we quickly approach the one year anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake the have been signs that debris from the massive tsunami has finally touched down on American shores.

Recently residents of northwest Washington state have been finding more and more fishing gear and garbage with Japanese writing on it since last weekend. In fact, in the past two months one man found 15 pieces of Japanese debris has been reported which is a sharp increase from the only 4 pieces found in the previous 46 years.

Although experts have yet to conclude this is actual wreckage from the 11 March earthquake, one piece of styrofoam that had been recovered is reported to have “CFC free” written on them in Japanese. This would suggest that they have been more recently lost. It could, however, simply be that people have been extra alert for Japanese debris since the tsunami.

This has been a minor boom for beachcombers in Washington, people who search along the waterfront for unique of valuable items that wash ashore. While they are mostly concerned with the effect a possible surge in washed-up wreckage might have on the ecosystem, they also would like to return any lost items of importance to their rightful owners.